Free Assessment: How does your sales & marketing measure up?

Get Started
Close

Free Assessment:

How does your sales & marketing measure up?
Take this free, 5-minute assessment and learn what you can start doing today to boost traffic, leads, and sales.
Get Started
Carly Stec

By Carly Stec

Sep 27, 2014

Topics:

Marketing Strategy
Marketing Strategy

3 Simple Productivity Hacks Worth Reading About

Carly Stec

By Carly Stec

Sep 27, 2014

3 Simple Productivity Hacks Worth Reading About

shutterstock_109490579_miniLet's face it. 

We're surrounded by productivity killers.

Any time you sit down to accomplish something your phone is buzzing, your email inbox is growing more and more unruly, and you're certain that the water cooler is actually calling your name. Needless to say, some days it's just really hard to stay focused. 

However, it's no secret that low productivity can easily snowball into a decline in overall business performance.

Honestly, who has time to deal with that?

So if you're ready to get your focus back, keep reading.

Limit meetings

Let's face it, meetings are major time-suckers. In fact, 15% of an organization's collective time is spent in meetings. 

I wouldn't normally pin this as a bad thing if each and every meeting was groundbreaking and uber productive, but truth be told, most of them are not. 

According to an infographic from visual.ly and fuse, executives consider 67% of meetings to be failures. Not to state the obvious, but that's a lot. 

If you're looking to get back some time, consider the benefits of cutting back on the number of meetings you call. While frequent communication and collaboration are critical to the success of any business, there are small consideration that can be made to improve the outcome of your meetings.

For example, setting expectations through an agenda that is sent out in advance will help to ensure that people come prepared with actionable input and a clear understanding of what is to be accomplished. 

Leverage data

The awesome thing about modern marketing initiatives is that they're measurable. The ability to trace a closed deal back to the original tweet is entirely possible with the help of a marketing automation software. 

Having access to these types of insights not only makes it easier for businesses to make quicker decisions, but it also enables them to make smarter decisions. 

Let's say you're tasked with creating blog content to attract and engage your ideal audience. Sound time consuming, huh? 

Rather than spend 3 days writing 3 separate blog posts that generate a collective 500 views, use your analytics to uncover what topics have seen the greatest return in the past. You can then use this information to write one post that is capable of turning up 500 views itself. 

Extracting this type of actionable information also helps to eliminate the time it takes to effectively distribute content. Rather than take the time to post an article to 5 different platforms and only see engagement on two, dig into your analytics to gain a better understanding of which sources are performing best. 

Employ the right tools

The right tools can make all the difference. 

If it feels like you're struggling to keep your head above water at work, there are a number of tools out there designed to help you accomplish more without sacrificing quality. 

Here's a few of our personal favorites...

Trello:

Trello is a project management app that employs interactive "boards" and "cards" to organize any task. 

From a marketing standpoint, we use Trello to host our blog editorial calendar. In an effort to streamline our content creation process, we've organized our calender into 3 boards named after our 3 personas (Holly, Maggie, and Charlie.)

Whenever we turn to the calender to input ideas, we're focused to assign the idea to a persona in an effort to ensure that all of the content we're producing is worth our time.

HubSpot's Sidekick:

Formally known as Signals, HubSpot's Sidekick provides marketers and salespeople with the context they need to carry out more meaningful conversations. For more on how to tool works, check out this video:

Slack:

Slack is an internal communication app that serves as the main platform for all team communication and collaboration in our office.

If someone "misses a memo", it can a substantial impact on the time it takes to get a particular task accomplished. This tool helps us ensure that everyone is on the same page and up to speed in terms of company announcements, events, and responsibilities. 

 
 
 
 

 

Free Assessment:

How does your sales & marketing measure up?
Take this free, 5-minute assessment and learn what you can start doing today to boost traffic, leads, and sales.

Related Articles

What Should a 2024 Content Marketing Strategy Include?

September 21, 2023
Mandy York Mandy York

HubSpot Pricing: Your Guide to Everything HubSpot Costs

August 24, 2023
Will Smith Will Smith

Why Trust Is the True Currency for All Business

August 9, 2023
Marcus Sheridan Marcus Sheridan

10 Marketing KPIs You Should Be Tracking

August 3, 2023
Carolyn Edgecomb Carolyn Edgecomb

How To Become a Better Business Coach

July 31, 2023
Allison Riggs Allison Riggs

Do You Need a New Website? Maybe Not

July 19, 2023
Vin Gaeta Vin Gaeta

How to Create a Content Map To Solve Your Marketing Guesswork

July 6, 2023
Brian Casey Brian Casey

Inbound Marketing vs. Content Marketing: What's the Difference? 

July 3, 2023
Brian Casey Brian Casey

How To Do a Competitive Analysis In 5-and-a-half Easy Steps

June 29, 2023
John Becker John Becker

Why Hiring a Coach is the Surest Way to Spur Business Growth

June 28, 2023
Bob Ruffolo Bob Ruffolo

Marketing Coach vs Agency: Why You Need a Coach for Real Success

June 26, 2023
John Becker John Becker

LinkedIn Could Become Your Most Powerful Distribution Channel

June 22, 2023
John Becker John Becker

Content Copycat: What To Do When Your Website Gets Copied

June 15, 2023
Christine Austin Christine Austin

My Best Sales Reps Haven’t Hit Their Quotas All Year: What Do I Do?

June 7, 2023
Marcus Sheridan Marcus Sheridan

7 Must-have Word-of-Mouth Marketing Strategies [Infographic]

May 8, 2023
Ramona Sukhraj Ramona Sukhraj

What Small Business Leaders Need To Know to Thrive During a Recession

April 19, 2023
Marcus Sheridan Marcus Sheridan

5 Keys to Marketing Your Business During a Recession

April 17, 2023
Ramona Sukhraj Ramona Sukhraj

Should Your Demand Gen Strategy Change in a Slumping Economy?

April 12, 2023
Nick Bennett Nick Bennett

Demand Generation vs. Lead Generation: What’s the Difference?

April 10, 2023
Kristen Harold Kristen Harold

How a Lack of Sales and Leadership Buy-in Is Killing Marketing Morale Worldwide

March 6, 2023
Marcus Sheridan Marcus Sheridan

Website Conversions in 2023 — STOP, START, KEEP

January 25, 2023
Vin Gaeta Vin Gaeta

Sales vs Marketing in 2023: What’s The Difference?

January 5, 2023
Marcus Sheridan Marcus Sheridan

How To Set Content Marketing Goals for Growth

December 29, 2022
Brian Casey Brian Casey

Should You Hire An Agency to Create Your Content?

December 12, 2022
Marcus Sheridan Marcus Sheridan

24 Essential Questions for Understanding Your Ideal Customer (+ Infographic)

December 1, 2022
Dia Vavruska Dia Vavruska